U.S. filmmaker Tim Burton, best known for “Edward Scissorhands” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” in South Korea, is in town for the last leg of his eponymous Museum of Modern Art exhibition.

The show has traveled through New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, Melbourne and Paris since 2009, and opened at the Seoul Museum of Art on Wednesday.

It features more than 860 pieces of the director’s expansive body of artistry, going back to his childhood and including drawings, illustrations, concept art, sculptures, photographs and amateur films.

Advertisement

Hyundai Card

“Tim Burton” exhibition hall at Seoul Museum of Art

During a press event on Tuesday, the director said it is “surreal” that his very personal archives—from letters to doodles–are on display for the general public. “The work being shown is never really meant to be shown in a gallery space or in any space, really,” he said, adding that the works are “little pieces” of himself.

Sharing something so personal feels very “strange,” but at the same time “this (the exhibition) is one of the biggest surprises of all” that have happened in his life, he said.

The “worldwide extravaganza,” as the director calls it, winds down in Seoul on April 14.

Tim Burton

Oompa Loompa from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Rom Magliozzi, Associate Curator at MoMA said that the show was “a great honor but challenging” for everyone involved. Mr. Magliozzi said an idea had hit him while watching “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” that the next thing for the museum should feature Tim Burton, whose wild imagination and childhood fears are shared by so many people around the world.

The director, in sunglasses and black coat, told reporters: “This is the last place where the show will be, which makes it extra special for us.”

Tim Burton

Blue Girl with Wine, 1997

The exhibition in Seoul has a new section with 100 pieces of art from “Frankenweenie,” a heartwarming film about a young boy named Victor and his beloved dog, Sparky. Originally a black-and-white short film made in 1984, it was remade into a 3D stop-motion animated film that was released in October this year.

Mr. Burton said the exhibition could never have been possible without “detective-like” efforts by MoMA officials to sort out decades-old artworks hidden in drawers and boxes, and to organize and “find a narrative” to breathe a new life into them.
“Their guidance and expertise made it very very special,” he said.

The exhibit is sponsored by Hyundai Card as part of the company’s “Culture Project.”